Walk Through The Web Wednesday 2/17

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Wednesday Furiends,
I hope you are all keeping safe and warm. We are worried about our Texas furiends, many without the comfort of heat and fires. At least, in our neck of the woods we have the dreaded winter and are always prepared to stay safe and warm, even if (heaven forbid) our electricity goes away. I almost feel guilty posting this photo but it’s rare that I get the fireplace all to myself without Oliver’s portly presence.

As for Lily, she’s getting strange. Started to get close to me on the cat condo (a first) and then she took over my catnip infused bag (another first!)

“She’s behind me, isn’t she?”

At least Oliver is predictable!

“Human, please make sure this photo doesn’t make me look too broad in the beam.”
“Are you smocking me?!”

Let’s get on with this week’s feline news. We have some of my favorite subjects, creative cat adoption ideas, a famous purrlitical cat, a lost cat found and more.

Ten Lives Club dressing up cats in hats to help get them adopted

This feline always loves it when humans at shelters find new and clever ways to find furever homes for our feline furiends. The Ten Lives Club lined up business sponsors for photos of cats in hats with the business logo of the sponsor on the picture.

The shelter is hoping this new way to showcase adoptable felines will help them clear the shelter.

Along with sponsors, The Ten Lives Club is looking for small hat donations or, if you’re creative you can make your own small hats to donate. Go to their Facebook page and scroll through the mini-hatted felines.

Larry the Downing Street cat’s 10 years at No.10 in pictures

Next week marks 10 years since Larry, the cat at Downing  Street began his purrlitical career. I’ve reported on Larry  in the past since he went to live at one of England’s most famous addresses from his humble beginnings as a homeless feline from Battersea rescue centre.

Larry, as the Prime Minister’s top feline has become quite a celebrity and has many photo ops with famous people.

He’s lived with three Prime Ministers during his tenure but he’s not spilling the beans on life with any of them which, I think, this is a wise purrlitical move.

There has been no cat door installed for Larry at 10 Downing Street so he’s forced to wait patiently for the on duty police officer to let him in…and out…an in…and out. Be sure and check out some of the photographic highlights of Larry’s last ten years.

With a little help, Honey is home after 12 weeks

Honey the cat went to visit Natalia Guerara’s relatives the week before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Honey slipped out the front door of the relative’s house.

Every day Honey’s humans searched the streets, trails and woods for the 6-year old cat. They joined lost pet groups, posted flyers and prayed. They did everything they could to get the word out about Honey.

Half a mile away from Honey’s last location, a woman noticed a new cat in her neighborhood. Laura  Bell is wise about cats and knew that the sudden appearance of this well taken care of feline meant that someone was missing her.

The cat hung around for a few weeks because one of the neighbors fed her. Bell did a survey of the neighborhood to make sure the cat didn’t belong to someone and then she borrowed a humane trap to catch the cat.

Once the cat had been secured in the trap, Bell took the frightened feline to the humane society.

Bell then posted the cat’s photo on the local Lost and Found pet’s page and people noticed the resemblance of this cat to Honey. Then began the comedy of errors.

Unfortunately, Guevara had changed her phone number so no one could contact her and she wasn’t checking Facebook as much as she had when Honey first went missing.

Finally, shelter manager Jenny Haynes recognized the cat as the missing Honey due to the distinctive black spots on her pink nose. Guevara went to the shelter months earlier to report Honey missing, so the shelter had information on her. A friend of Guevara saw the shelter’s note about Honey and called the shelter to provide them with the correct phone number.

The rest, as they say, is history and last week Honey was reunited with her humans.

The  moral to this story my furiends is this, NEVER GIVE UP! Oh, and make sure your phone number is correct!

Finding the perfect match

Kudos to humans who find creative ideas to find us felines homes! The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought 13 adoptable cats to Philadelphia Brewing Company for their Meowentine’s Day cat adoption event.

Potential adopters were taken to the brewery’s tasting room to meet the felines, have a drink and purchase decorated Valentine’s hearts to benefit the PSPCA.

Prior to the shutdown, Philadelphia Brewing Company hosted “Caturday” which was a monthly adoption event at the brewery. The Valentine’s  event was the first one that had been hosted in a year.

There were many humans who found their purrfect Valentine’s match that day. Paws up to the Philadelphia Brewing Company and the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for innovative thinking and a great partnership!

‘I am not a cat’: Find and use the infamous lawyer cat filter everyone’s talking about

I doubt there’s anyone on the planet who hasn’t heard about this and seen all the hilarious memes. Now I normally don’t report on news items that have gone viral, as I’m always striving to bring you fresh news but this has a new twist.

We heard all about the filter but did anyone tell us how to actually use the filter on our next zoom  meeting? Well here you go, turn your boring online session into a fabulous feline gathering. You’re welcome!

How to use the famous cat filter on your next Zoom video chat

1. Download the free Snap Camera app for Windows or Mac. (Just make sure you read the terms and conditions first.) It’ll ask for permission to use your camera and microphone.

2. Open the app, and you’ll find a variety of “lenses” or filters to search through. Whatever you click on will appear at the top of the app, where you can see it overlaid on your face.

3. Go to the Search Lenses bar, and type in “kitten” (or anything else you’d like to try).

4. Search through the different options, and choose the feline that speaks to you the most.

Choose from all kids of different kitten filters on Snap Camera.

5. To connect your new filter to Zoom, open the Zoom app. (You may have to restart it if it was already open while Snap Camera was downloading.)

6. In Zoom, go to Settings > Video > Camera, and from the drop-down menu, select Snap Camera. You should see your face with the filter you selected appearing in the preview.

7. Start or join a Zoom meeting. Your face will appear as a kitten, or whatever filter you selected.

Walk Through the Web Wednesday 3/22

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Wednesday!
It’s time for me to take you to some of my favorite spots on the web. I found some great stories so please enjoy.
Your Friend,
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Cat Gets Herself Hired at Nursing Home – Petcha

OreoA cat walked into a nursing home……and the rest is history. This beautiful feline, now known as Oreo, wandered into St. Augustine Health Ministries in Cleveland, Ohio one day and she worked her way into an important job.

This little black and white bundle of joy began her career hanging around the outside of the facility where she lived as a stray. Staff began feeding her and taking care of her and her next “promotion” came when she was invited inside.  She now works there full time and brings happiness to staff and the residents. There’s no limit to what a career-minded cat can do!

D.C. Shelter Has the Answer to Businesses’ Rodent Problems – Washington Business Journal

160712125203-cats-waiting-list-super-169The D.C. based, Humane Rescue Alliance is putting felines to work in local businesses. They provide businesses with resident felines, “hired” to patrol the property and keep rodents away. In return, feral cats  get homes — and they earn their keep.

The shelter provides spayed/neutered, microchipped vaccinated felines to the business. One ear is clipped to indicate that the cats are “employed”. The business signs an agreement to feed, shelter and care for their new hire for it’s lifetime. It’s a win-win situation. So far, two bars, an apartment complex, a real estate office, a brewery, two homes, a hardware store and a church have expressed interest. More and more cities are getting cats jobs in business and I say an enthusiastic “meow” to that!

Larry the Downing Street Mouser Under Scrutiny -Independent 

larry-cat-paI’ve written about the feline employees in the British government before and Larry in purrticular. Larry is one of several Whitehall pets, which include dogs. Unfortunately, Larry has been caught in the act of non-mousing.  Rumor has it that rather than catching rodents, Larry is taking cat naps and has recently been caught in the act by a photographer, leading some in government to speculate that Larry may lack the killer instinct important for politics. A photographer recently reported that Larry came face to face with a tiny mouse, which he allowed to escape after he played with it a while. 

Note to Larry…when you have a cushy government job,  don’t let them catch you napping!

Fish & Chips, Vancouver Island Explorer Kitties – Adventure Cats

30I love stories about adventure cats as much as I do stories about cats with jobs. These two felines, Fish and Chips  were adopted at different times, and are now the best of adventure-seeking friends.  The female human wanted to adopt a kitten but the male human (thinking he was really a dog person) wasn’t so sure. Then he discovered one of my favorite websites, Adventure Cats and he was convinced. First Fish came home with them. After deciding that having felines in the family was a great idea, they then adopted Chips. The adventures of these two and their humans are captured in stunning photography you can view at the Adventure Cats website. Reading about the life of these brave kitties makes me think I need to wander a bit further than our front garden!

Cat Islands in Japan – Creative Boom

c7ebc447205a9ea0a5f8d9812ce1664845f3667c_860Speaking of adventure, one photographer , Andrew Marttila’s photography series captures the feline residents of Cat Island in a beautiful pictorial album at Creative Boom.

Marttila went to Japan to see Cat Island. What he found out is that there are several cat islands off the Japanese coast and although there are beautiful felines to see, there are also issues in these places. The cats are not spayed and overpopulation is a problem, Still, the photographs are beautiful and a must see and these felines look very healthy and happy.

 

 

How Your Office Would Look If It Was Run By Cats – Bored Panda

The female human is a great fan of the cartoons of Tom Fonder, the creator of The Adventures of Business Cat. She likes him so much that she uses a “Boss Cat” as a branding tool for her Coworking Facility Tom Fonder has pondered important questions such as “What would it look like if a cat was the CEO of a major corporation?” He provides the answer in his wonderful cartoons and describes his Business Cat as a hard-hitting executive, not afraid to milk the corporation cash cow for his own purrrrposes.  I hope you enjoy the cartoons as much as our female human does, although as a real-life Boss Cat (the female human is only a purrrrsonal assistant and typist) I do think Mr. Fonder is a bit harsh about feline management skills.
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